Teacher Testimonial: Why Our Students Love Edmodo
When Ben Wilkoff began teaching 7th grade Language Arts in 2004, he started connecting the dots between learning and technology. Today, Ben is an Online Learning/ Technology Specialist in the Douglas County (CO) School District. He has been using Edmodo regularly since his district signed up, and has seen tremendous enthusiasm from his students. You can read Ben’s testimonial below, or stop by on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PDT and listen to him discuss why students at his school love Edmodo.
Edmodo for Online Schools… wait, for all schools.
Aug 30, 2010 // by
I don’t usually make it a point to call attention to a particular technology as being so overwhelmingly beneficial to education as to set itself apart from those that have come before it, but in this case I will make an exception.
I have used social networks and collaborative environments with students for a number of years. Everything from Wikispaces and Google Sites to Voicethread to Ning. Each one had a significant impact on students by creating a space for student ownership and collaborative contribution. However, each time that a project ended, the community dried up and withered away. There was no underlying instinct to share or create with one another because it was always focused around only an academic understanding of student needs. By only going after part of the student, both the technology and my understanding of what was possible were severely stunted.
Enter Edmodo.
While I had used Edmodo two years ago to have students reflect upon their progress for a particular activity, both the web application and my understanding of it have advanced considerably within the last month. You see, last month our school district instituted a pilot for Edmodo as an institution. The first step of that pilot is within our k-12 Online School. Some would say that this is a poor choice for a pilot because it isn’t like a brick and mortar school with a traditional bell schedule and scarce technological resources.
Here is why I made the case for it’s inclusion in the pilot:
Every school has walls. The online school just has them in a learning management system. Every school has a gradebook. The online school’s just doesn’t require as much manual entry. Every school has curriculum. The online school’s is just hyperlinked. Every school has a hallway and a cafeteria, but until Edmodo, our Online School did not. We needed a place for students to share what was going on in their lives within a safe and school-based environment.
That was the case that I made, but I wasn’t fully prepared for the results. From the very first day of school, our students have made this space their own. They never had any doubts as to what it was or why they needed it. Here is how I know:
- The students have asked for (and received) the creation of over 40 different groups that are both academic and social. Here is a list of what they have requested: Book Chat, Baseball Fan Club, The games lounge, lunch room, The music club, The Coffee Shop, Lego Fans!, All Sports Talk, Movie Talk, Film Fans, Sidewalk Art, The sience room, Sophomore Class!, Modern Warfare (Video Game), OtakuFans, The Official Hallway, The Bench, Click This (Photography), Recess!!, Class of 2014, aero space science, anime chat lounge, The fun Palace, Pizza Place, 5th Grade Hallway, political conversation, cat lovers, Quantem Tag-Team Underwater Basket Weaving Club, Mario club, Acting101, Help Pets, The Asimov & Tolkien Reading Lounge, field trip ideas, volleyball lovers, Hockey chat, Creative Writing Club, Let’s Talk
- They organized and created a weekly news show for our school (completely on their own). Here is the first episode.
- They created their own music and music videos.
- They have shared art, photographs, and literary discussions.
- They have created screencasts to help one another with the technology (and to do interesting things)
And that is just a taste of the things they are doing in Edmodo. I can honestly say that I didn’t know a group of students from all ages would coexist in such an open space and work together to create things of learning and beauty all because they had the tool and the opportunity to do so. Throughout this year we will see students who are more engaged and less apathetic because they feel confident that their schools is real in the ways that matter.
I can already hear detractors for this evidence. I know that they would come from two directions and I would like to tackle each one individually:
- An online school isn’t like a regular school. Those kinds of uses would work in MY school.
- That is too social. It will take away from the time that my students use for studying and doing homework.
As for the idea that Edmodo is too social and would take away from student achievement. I concede nothing on that point. Student achievement can only be based upon student engagement. Students who join extra curricular activities are less likely to drop out and more likely to achieve than those who do not take advantage of those opportunities. Students who stay in the school past class time to talk to teachers and one another will do better on their tests and projects. Edmodo is an essential part of the school because it is where every one of our clubs is housed. It is where the five minutes before class is held. It is the space that the kids want to talk about their classes and their assignments. They seek and find help from those that are have been there before. It is the place that they engage with the school, not the place that they goof off and distract themselves. They are proud of their accomplishments and will daily tout when they have their work done. Learning is social, and Edmodo is one of the only places that really gets it.
So that’s it. We have seen incredible success with Edmodo because we saw it as our school’s best chance to connect all of the disparate parts and stakeholders. We continue to see the potential for new types of learning within this platform and we are excited to see what the future holds. Whatever that is, we will definitely keep Edmodo along for the ride.
Co-Teaching on Edmodo
Since we launched Edmodo 2 years ago, teachers have been asking if there was a way to have another teacher co-manage a group. We would like to now introduce Co-Teaching on Edmodo.
To add a Co-Teacher to your group, the teacher must first be a member of the group. Then, hover over the group and click on “Members”. There you will find a list of users signed up for the group. Click the drop-down across from the Co-teacher’s name and select “Co-Teacher”. Co-Teachers can delete and edit posts, as well as create and grade assignments.
To learn more, check out the Edmodo Guide: http://www.edmodo.com/guide/#Co-Teaching
Districts Using Edmodo – Interviews With Andover USD in Kansas and Katy ISD in Texas
All week we’ve been telling you about our new school and district level features, free of charge as always. Now we are introducing you to some of the teachers and technology administrators who are using Edmodo’s free social learning network school and district wide. Tomorrow, Thursday, August 19th at 12pm PDT, you can join us for a special webinar to learn even more about these new features and hear from users like 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Dyane Smokorowski, and Director of Technology, Rob Dickson, from Andover School District in Kansas. You’ll also hear from Darlene Rankin, a District Director, and Brenda White, a Technology Integration Coordinator, from Katy School District in Texas. Both Andover USD and Katy ISD have been using Edmodo since 2009 and are now deploying Edmodo across their entire districts. Below are short interviews with both groups.
Q: As a teacher/administrator, what do you like best about Edmodo?
Andover: I love the simplicity of the tool and the community it helps me build with my students. Through the use of Edmodo, I have the ability to extend my classroom walls and class hours to communicate and collaborate with students easily. Even in the summer months, the students and I were able to collaborate on writing projects thanks to Edmodo. It gives the flexibility of the web interface yet still has a large feature set to build content as needed. As an administrator, I am satisfied with the security of allowing certain sharing and security enabled into the web portal.
Katy: Edmodo is so easy to use – teachers create their own accounts using a school code – there is no work on our end setting up or importing student or teacher accounts. Once a teacher has created their account using their school code their account is moved under the Katy ISD umbrella. Edmodo is always eager to listen to our ideas and address them. Strong support team and very much in tune to the customer.
Q: What do your students like about Edmodo?
Andover: Their favorite features of Edmodo are the text notifications when I send out assignments or direct messages, the Edmodo App from iTunes to do homework or commuicate with me via their phones or iPods, the ability to communicate with the class from home when they are absent, and the ability to reach me with questions easily at night and on the weekends while they are doing their homework.
Katy: Students are naturally attracted to Edmodo because the concept is so familiar to them. Once student accounts are created and they are “in” they easily pick up on how to operate in Edmodo. Students enjoy being able to communicate with their teacher and get timely feedback on their projects.
Q: What is the biggest surprise you have experienced using Edmodo?
Andover: The community it built between my students and me, especially with the more shy ones. If they weren’t comfortable asking questions in class, they could easily send me a direct message. We essentially became a professional learning community together through Edmodo. I couldn’t teach as effectively without it.
Katy: I have been surprised at how easy Edmodo is and at how quickly the students and teachers understand how it operates! Therefore you can get right to the work rather than trying to understand how to work the technology.
Schools Using Edmodo – Interview With Ben Wilkoff
On Thursday, August 19th, join us for a special webinar that will show you how to get the most out of Edmodo’s new school and district features. During the session, you will hear from Ben Wilkoff, the Online Learning and Technology Resource Specialist for Douglas County Schools in Colorado.
Below is a short interview with Ben.
Q: As a teacher/administrator, what do you like best about Edmodo?
I love how much students want to engage in helping one another. No other platform I have seen has allowed students to be so giving of one another, whether that is just sharing a helpful link or actually recording a screencast and sharing that with other students. We have seen a dramatic decrease in technical support tickets because of Edmodo’s ability to have students engage in the kinds of social and academic conversations that seem to pop up naturally.
Q: What do your students like about Edmodo?
They love how much it looks and feels like a safe Facebook. They love how instantaneous the feedback is even on the smallest details of their learning experience. They also love to have their own conversations and groups that feel truly theirs. While they know that teachers are on the site constantly, I see many students starting conversations that are helping to build relationships. They don’t see each other as just classmates in our school, they are starting to see each other as friends.
Q: What is the biggest surprise you have experienced using Edmodo?
The biggest surprise is how much the kids want to use it. Our school has only been open for 2 days and we already have 12 students with over 100 posts (out of 160 that have registered so far). I thought that I was going to have to poke and prod them the whole way, but they are already starting to think of it as their space and they have worked really hard to keep it incredibly positive and supportive of one another. I guess I am most surprised about how good Edmodo makes me feel about our school. It makes me want to get to know the kids more and to make their learning environment even better. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Q: Tell us about your plans for Douglas County Schools and Edmodo?
I will roll out Edmodo first to our k-12 online school, then our center-based online charter, and finally with our brick and mortar traditional schools. All three of these entities should be up and running by second semester, especially with the extreme success I am starting to see in the online school.
Thanks, Ben, for helping us spread the word!
School and District Level Features, Free on Edmodo!
Back to school is always an exciting and busy time, and it’s a moment when teachers are exploring new ways to enhance their teaching. Edmodo is gearing up for back to school too and we’re offering even more opportunities for teachers to engage with their students and collaborate with colleagues. Edmodo’s free social learning network is currently used in 10,000 schools, and we’re incredibly enthusiastic about welcoming a new incoming class of teachers and admins as we inaugurate the 2010-2011 school year!
The big news today is that schools and districts can now sign up for special new features on Edmodo, free of charge as always!
Districts and schools can create custom Edmodo web domains and securely connect teachers, schools, and the entire district on their own special Edmodo social learning network. In addition, there are lots of other capabilities we’re offering at the school and district level, and we can’t wait to share the details.
To learn more this week, register for our special webinar on Thursday, August 19th at 12pm PST. See you soon, and please help us spread the word!
Announcing Edmodo Weekly Webinar Series
Please join us for an upcoming webinar.
We will cover everything you need to return to school:
- Refresh your skills on Edmodo for the classroom
- Learn to leverage Edmodo for professional development
- Check out new features for teachers, schools and districts
- Hear exciting news of what’s to come!
Check back often for updated calendar of school year webinars and special events.
Please help us spread the word about our new weekly webinars.
We look forward to meeting you online!
Upcoming Webinars
Tuesday, Aug 31, 2010 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PDT
Thursday, Sep 2, 2010 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM PDT
Tuesday, Sep 7, 2010 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PDT
Teacher Testimonial: Why our students love Edmodo
Send questions to schools@edmodo.com
Top 10 embeddable resources for Teachers
Today I was thinking about what were the top 10 social media sites teachers were using. Then it hit me that I could just analyze the Edmodo database and see what sites are most popular among our users. So here you have it, the top 10 embeddable resources that teachers are using on Edmodo.
- Youtube
- Glogster
- Animoto
- Google Spreadsheets
- Wallwisher
- Slideshare
- Classtools.net
- Prezi
- Google Docs
- Schooltube
- Voicethread
So now you must be thinking that I do not know how to count? I assure you I know how to count. I just feel I have an obligation to insert a spinal tap joke whenever I can 
”Why does our list go to 11? Because it’s one better than 10.”
If you have any favorite embeddable resources not listed, feel free to share them in the comments with the rest of the Edmodo community.
Edmodo iPhone App
The Edmodo iPhone App is here!
Edmodo for iPhone makes it easy for teachers and students to stay connected and share information. Use your iPhone or iPod Touch to send notes, post replies, and check messages and upcoming events while away from the classroom.
Teachers can post last-minute alerts to their students and keep tabs on recent assignment submissions. Students can check their latest grades and what assignments they still need to turn in.
Download it today from the App Store.
Don’t have an iPhone? Check out our mobile web app at http://m.edmodo.com/
Countdown to ISTE
ISTE is less than 2 weeks away and we’re hard at work preparing for what’s sure to be an exciting conference! Here is a sneak peak at some of the fun events and giveaways we have planned. Be sure to join the ISTE group on edmodo (group code ISTE10) and stop by our booth (#1492) for even more details.
First off, be sure to put Tuesday’s Edmodo ISTE After Party on your calendar. It’s at Rock Bottom Brewery (1001 16th Street Mall) just a few blocks from the conference starting at 8pm. Come in time for our Apple iPad giveaway!
You’ll also have three chances to win an iPod touch. We’ll be doing those giveaways at our booth over the course of the conference. So stop by, sign up to win and pick up your free edmodo t-shirt! We can’t wait to see you all in person!!
Guest Post: Thomas Scheeler’s Edmodo Experience
I started using Edmodo in late fall of the 2008-2009 school year at Jim Hill Middle School in Minot, North Dakota where I teach 8th grade Language Arts. After spending just a few minutes “playing” with the service and seeing the capabilities, I quickly realized what an invaluable tool this could be to my classroom. I immediately liked the social network interaction Edmodo provided. It was more rapid than what we had previously used. Discussions and running dialogues occurred in an open space and when needed a student and teacher could have a private conversation too. I liked the ease of uploading, sharing, and exchanging files. I liked the fact that I could put an assignment there, grade it there, and the kids could get their results and feedback there. The notifications feature allowed not only for myself to learn of new posts, but students too. Parents could easily access the public page for their child’s group and receive information also. One stop, ease of use, I was sold. I was not the only voter though, as with any classroom integration, students’ reactions would be the ultimate test.
I decided to start small by setting up only one class on a Monday, an Advanced 8th grade Language Arts class. “Good kids,” who would also be understanding and patient if things went off track or failed miserably. The sign-up process was fast, simple, and in a matter of minutes students were busy changing their avatars. Once we were up and running, discussions and sharing were taking place seamlessly, it was obvious Edmodo had passed the student test.
As word spread to my other classes about Edmodo, it didn’t take long to realize every class was going to want to be able to try it for themselves. By Wednesday of the same week, I had 6 groups (classes) registered and actively using Edmodo. The results were the same as with the first group.
Those initial six groups gravitated towards Edmodo and as the year progressed it became the main source of our online electronic communication and a collaborative workspace in our classroom. We held discussions, shared links, turned in a number of reflective pieces of writing, and used the embed feature to publish completed projects for classmates to see. Not only did it pass the student test, it had taken on a life of its own. Edmodo became a verb in our room the same way Google had for search a few years earlier. Students appreciated that it was “our space” and not necessarily shared with other classes or the rest of the world. A sense of community was forming around the groups.
The spring of the year brought Edmodo 2.0 and a whole new set of features that students gobbled up. Edmodo 2.0 brought SMS and Twitter notifications, and a document reader that could read the most common documents we posted right within Edmodo. The service didn’t stop there, though, and added more features for teachers too. It was becoming apparent that Edmodo wasn’t going anywhere and that Edmodo listened to the wants and needs of teachers and students alike.
As the year ended, and it came time to archive the groups for the summer, students bemoaned the fact that they may not have a service like Edmodo next year as they moved into the high school.
Over the summer Edmodo continued to evolve and improve and I looked forward to the start of this school year and using Edmodo with all of my classes again. The student reaction was much the same if not more excited after hearing comments from previous students. Students immediately commented on how Facebook looks like Edmodo or vice versa. The Social Studies teacher I team with jumped on board using Edmodo after hearing the positives from students and exploring it for himself. Students now had two classes taking advantage of the service. Within a few weeks, under pressure from the students, the Math teacher on our team joined as well. The move for both of those teachers was a positive one and something they were glad they did. Both plan to continue to use the service in the future.
The 2009-2010 school year brought a few new challenges and a few new uses for Edmodo. Our school was hit this the fall with an outbreak of the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu). We had a number of students who were forced to stay home for days and in a few cases weeks. Edmodo allowed those students to still communicate with their classmates and teachers. They took advantage of knowing the lesson for the day along with any files, links, and even discussions were available to them. They liked that they could ask questions and get help not only from me, but also their classmates.This was something the parents of those students also appreciated.
This year I used Edmodo much of the same way we did the previous year in my classes, but I took greater advantage of the features of Edmodo. Our school started its own Twitter account for school announcements. Twitter is a service I love, but it doesn’t really excite middle school students much. The information in those tweets was pertinent though, so I used the RSS feature in Edmodo to be sure my students wouldn’t miss out. We used the poll feature as a springboard to discuss controversial current event articles. We also used the embed feature considerably more to bring other tech tools into our space. We used it to embed Google forms that we used for surveys and quizzes. We embedded our classroom Google calendar. Wallwisher, Glogster, and student made media projects, as well as YouTube videos often found their way into the groups using the ability to embed content.
The new use for Edmodo this year came from a need of our school literacy committee, of which I am a member. For a number of years, and with moderate success, we have conducted after school book clubs for students.These clubs faltered not from a lack of student desire to participate, but from the limited amount of time our students had available. A large percentage of our students participate in after school activities and are unable to meet with a traditional after school group. Enter Edmodo. We decided to move our monthly book clubs this spring to an online format using Edmodo. We conducted ten simultaneous book club groups for our students each month using Edmodo. Students loved being able to discuss the books online and took advantage of sharing and embedding related resources for their book. Along with being able to participate in book clubs using a computer to access Edmodo, members who had an iPod Touch or an Android cellphone were able to participate using yet another new feature, the Edmodo mobile website.
My experiences and the experiences of my students with Edmodo have been incredibly positive. Unlike other tools I have used with my students, Edmodo was built with teachers and students in mind from the start. The strength of Edmodo is in its ability to adapt to any class, course, club, or situation. The service satisfied our needs from the start for a communication and collaboration platform, but has become so much more. It has continued to grow and improve and I know more teachers in my building and within our school district as a whole will be using Edmodo next year and in the future for the same reasons.
Thomas Scheeler
8th grade Language Arts
Jim Hill Middle School
Minot, ND
Twitter: tscheeler
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